The New Coffee Break Academy


It’s graduation time!

As you know, most of our courses feature free lessons, available on our website and on iTunes, Soundcloud and so on, but we also have premium courses which feature additional materials to help you take your learning further. We’ve been looking at ways in which we can improve how we deliver these courses and today we’re delighted to announce the new Coffee Break Academy. Moving forward, this will be where all our premium courses will be hosted.

We’ve been reworking our existing content into new courses which feature the usual downloadable audio and pdf materials, but we’re also introducing video to seasons 1 and 2 for all languages, and making the whole process a smooth and enjoyable experience. Of course, with a huge back catalogue featuring hundreds of language lessons, this is a gradual process. We’ll be moving our Coffee Break series over to the new Academy in the next few weeks, and we’ll be offering everyone who has purchased a course in 2016 a complementary account in the new Academy. Equally, anyone who purchases a course between now and when we move over will be swapped into the new Academy when it’s ready.

The Coffee Break Academy will be a one-stop shop for all our premium content and we believe it will offer learners an easy and smooth process from purchase to language mastery!

Ready to try out the new Coffee Break Academy? Click here. You’ll notice that not all our courses are active on the Academy quite yet – we’ll be adding to these in the coming weeks.

Just a quick word about our current Masterclass members who have been using the Academy to access this system. We’ll also be moving the Masterclass into the new Academy, but we’ll be in touch with you to guide you through that process when the courses are fully set up on the new site.

Introducing Coffee Break Spanish To Go


¿Cuál es la pregunta de hoy?

We’ve been asking our beginner and intermediate students what you would find most useful to help you in the earlier stages of the language. While many of you feel that you’re able to say things in the language, the number one difficulty for learners is understanding what native speakers say in response. For example: if you are asked ¿cómo estás? -“how are you feeling?” – you can reply estoy bien. You may well hear that answer from a native speaker too, but it’s quite likely that you’ll hear something a bit more complicated:

Estoy muy bien, aquí por Málaga, dándome una vuelta, y hoy no hace demasiado calor, así que estoy estupendo.

And if you’re fairly new to the language, that’s quite a tricky answer! So… in order to respond to this learner need, we’ve put together a brand new course. It’s time to take what you’ve learned in the early stages of the language, and move further with it. We’ve headed out onto the streets of Spain with our camera and asked native Spanish speakers some questions. We’re calling this Coffee Break Spanish – To Go.

Coffee Break Spanish To Go is a short course featuring 10 videos, each video asking a different question. While the questions in this series may be quite easy to begin with, the answers range from a few words, to complex sentences spoken quickly in local accents – and this is exactly what our learners have been asking for. We’ve provided subtitles in Spanish so that you can see exactly what each interviewee says, and there are, of course, language notes with explanations of the grammatical and cultural elements covered.

Coffee Break Spanish To Go launches on Monday, the 7th of November. This season is aimed at learners working on Season 1 and Season 2 of Coffee Break Spanish, but we hope to add more series featuring more complex questions and answers in the future.

Announcing Coffee Break Italian Season 2

Pronti per un altro caffè?

Coffee Break Italian Season 1 finished in the summer, and we get daily emails, tweets and messages asking us when Season 2 is starting… So, we’re delighted to report that your new year resolutions for 2017 can also include improving your Italian! Season 2 begins in January and we’ve been busy recording the first batch of lessons already.

Season 2 will give you the chance to increase your understanding and build your range of expression in Italian and we’re really looking forward to launching this next stage. To be kept up to date with the developments and the definitive launch date, click here and fill in your details.

Announcing Coffee Break German Season 2


Lust auf noch mehr Deutsch?

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve been working on the long-awaited second season of Coffee Break German. In this season you’ll take your German to the next level, building on what you learned in Season 1. There will be more situations, you’ll learn to talk about the past and the future, you’ll learn more about how the German language works, and you’ll also learn some tricks to help you avoid the most difficult aspects of German grammar. We’ll also be looking more at Austrian, Swiss and German culture with the help of Julia.

So, when will CBG2 be available? We’re launching the new season in January 2017, so you can start planning your new year’s resolutions to include improving your German! There will be more information coming soon, and we’ll be introducing our new CBG teacher next month. For now, click here and fill in your details to be notified as soon as we know the launch date – and you may even get access to a sneak preview!

Our 10th Birthday Announcements

Join our Founder and CEO Mark Pentleton for our 10th birthday announcements:

  1. Coffee Break French Season 5 coming in 2017
  2. Coffee Break German Season 2 launches January 2017
  3. Coffee Break Italian Season 2 launches January 2017
  4. Coffee Break Spanish To Go – new video show launching 7th Nov 2016
  5. Brand new Coffee Break Academy where our premium courses will be hosted
  6. 26 One Minute Languages courses already in Coffee Break Academy – including new courses in Galician and Finnish
  7. High Five Spanish launching on Coffee Break Academy – help your child learn Spanish
  8. Coffee Break Merchandise now available
  9. Coffee Break Conversations – new behind-the-scenes video series
  10. The Coffee Break App coming soon
  11. Announcing Coffee Break Chinese, launching early 2017

Follow the links above to find out more.